Friday, 15 June 2012

Weird Filters.

Here's a weird picture.

Why is it that some people see the world through weird cognitive bias filters? It makes discussion with them impossible, as what I write is remixed with weird filters into something completely different. They then argue against something completely different, not what I wrote. This is the classic Straw Man argument.

1) ""A" is..." is remixed into "I believe that "B", "C", "D",..."Z" do not exist".

2) ""A" is caused by "B"" is remixed into "A is only caused by "B"". This is similar to 1).

3) "As cells are emptied (of glycogen)..." is remixed into "Once cells are completely emptied (of glycogen)...". The "As" at the beginning of the sentence signifies an ongoing process. Next time, I'll write "As cells are depleted (of glycogen)..." EDIT: Rewritten using c/p'ed text.

4) The statement "eating too much and moving too little" is remixed into "Gluttony and Sloth". Gluttony and Sloth are conscious actions. Eating too much due to ravenous hunger and moving too little due to lethargy/sleepiness are unconscious actions. Anybody who thinks that I mean/insinuate the former rather than the latter is an idiot/insane.

Having remixed what I wrote into something completely different, I am then accused of intellectual dishonesty. Oy!

There's a nifty little drawing in my physiology book showing how glucose is taken up at one part of the liver but released somewhere else. Proximal and distal regions, relating to the blood vessels that supply the liver and export from it. It neatly illustrates your use of the word "as". The liver releases glucose as the liver forms glycogen. These are not mutually exclusive, both happen all the time, but the balance can shift in favour of one or the other.

One tiny word can mean so much! The body is full of ongoing fluxes. Stuff is coming out of fat cells as other stuff is going in. Active muscles are emptying faster than they are filling while resting muscles are filling faster than they are emptying (I still prefer the words "filling" and "emptying" to "repleting" and "depleting"). Balances are constantly shifting.

I see that you have a blog. A friend of mine has recently shown symptoms of HCV infection. Unfortunately, she's currently on remand awaiting trial and she's likely to be in prison for several more months, so her diet consists of badly-cooked meat/veg & junk foods and she's not allowed to buy any supplements that aren't on a (very short) approved list. AFAIK, she's receiving pegylated interferon & an antiviral drug as treatment.

I came across the exchange you mentioned above and was completely mystified as to where all the hostility was coming from, given what your statements were. But then, I often wonder that after I read Woo's comments. When she disagrees with someone she seems to automatically view the dissenter as evil, and mean, and vicious.

And she is simply wrong about her rigid interpretation of "as happy as a pig in shit." I wonder why she cannot accept that you did not intend the implications she read into it. I personally have never thought that the phrase "happy as a pig in shit" was intended to indicate moral failings. Rather, it implies that the subject of the simile is happy because he is in his natural element. Honestly, doesn't that make a lot more sense?

As someone with a very high level of literacy in English, and yes, it is my first language (and yes, I have studied others), I could assure her that the interpretation I mention above is the more common one, by a long way. But I have tried to avoid getting in arguments with angry crazy people on the internet so I will not go out of my way to poke the scary lady with a rhetorical stick.

(As an aside, I'm not sure that I agree with you on the insulin thing. I just wanted to acknowledge that you were the recipient of weird personal attacks with a bizarre level of personal antipathy.)

About Me

I have a B.Sc.(Hons) in Electronic Engineering but no qualifications in Diet, Nutrition & Fitness, which is why I back-up what I write with links to high-quality evidence.

You can email me at
nigel.kinbrum@entee'ellworld.com
(say it!).

My suggestions must ALWAYS be checked by your Pharmacist/GP first, in case of contraindications with other medical conditions or medications that I don't know about. My suggestions are adjuncts to, NOT replacements for medication(s).

If symptoms improve, ask your GP about a reduction in medication(s), if it's/they're causing you problems.

Cheers, Nigel Kinbrum B.Sc.(Hons)Eng.

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